Wine Tasting Note: Saints Sauvignon Blanc, 2005, Marlborough, New Zealand.
Threshers £6.99 a bottle.
Screwcap removed the wine is splashed into the glass. The light catches a verdant hue to the colour and sends little shafts of light dancing across the white table cloth. A sniff. Vibrant and pungent. White flowers add a delicate edge to the gooseberry and grass aromas that rise above the swirling wine. A mouthful and some amusing gurgling noises and, seeing as it’s just me in the kitchen one hand stirring the pan of rice, a swallow. Soft, typical Sauvignon flavours, with a citric burst on the finish. Clean, fresh, vibrant. A mineral texture and a mass of lemon before a gentle finish. A further slurp and the mineral edge more evident.

The rice is drained, placed on a brilliant white plate, and the strips of liver and clinging slices of shallot scooped onto the top. With a chef-like flourish a pinch of nutmeg settles on the top like the snow-covering on the roofs opposite. In place of the meat cider vinegar is used to deglaze; as its pungency decreases as it boils in the pans residue giving a moment for another slurp on the wine. As the nose crinkles at the vinegars pungency the wine takes on a slightly sharper tone revealing complex apple flavours. Butter is stirred into the heavily reduced sauce; when melted it is poured delicately over the liver. I grab a fork, the plate, my glass and the bottle by the neck and scurry to the living room and watch the penultimate episode of Lost.

Scribblings Rating – 88/100

I have just realised that I tasted the very same wine (although a different vintage) and matched it with the very same dish back in October; either the memory is going due to old age or I am just predictable and unadventurous!